Background:
Leptospirosis is probably the most widespread and prevalent zoonosis in the world, being classified as an
emerging infectious disease for
humans and
dogs. Sporadically,
dogs may present with
cough and
dyspnea, indicative of pulmonary involvement, associated with
interstitial pneumonia and pulmonary
hemorrhage with alveolar consolidation. Such changes
stem from pulmonary haemorrhagic
syndrome, which has emerged as a fatal complication, being documented in some areas in
Europe and little described in
North America. In this sense, the present study aims to
report pulmonary hemorrhagic
syndrome in a
dog with
leptospirosis.Case A
dog with no defined breed,
aged 45 days, weighing 2.2 kg, with a
history of
apathy,
anorexia,
jaundice,
hematochezia and vocalisation with a two day evolution was seen.
Physical examination revealed a rectal
temperature of 37.2°C, icteric
mucosa,
capillary filling
time of two seconds,
respiratory rate of 80
movements per minute and
heart rate of 140 beats per minute,
dehydration rate estimated at 8%, prostration, adequate body score, normal
cardiac sounds and clean
lung fields, in addition to
petechiae in the abdominal region, whose
palpation evidenced the presence of fluid in intestinal loops. The
blood sample sent to the macroscopic
serum agglutination was
reagent for the
serovar Icterohaemorragiae, titration of 200.
Blood count revealed
leukocytosis due to neutrophilia, with left-sided deviation, eosinopenia, presence of rare hypersegmentated
neutrophils, rare toxic
neutrophils, mild cytoplasmic basophilia and rare reactive
lymphocytes.
Platelet estimation demonstrated
thrombocytopenia. No haemoparasites were seen. Regarding the biochemical evaluation, there were changes in
liver enzymes and markers of
renal failure.
Fluid therapy was used with
0.9% NaCl solution, 5 mg/ kg
doxycycline intravenously every 12 h and nasogastric probe for
administration of
nutritional support...